Kyuubi No Surebu Thank you! i hope you like my new update as well!

A/N: I present my first ever attempt at writing. It is not canon compliant and will be AU since I will be manipulating the timeline as i wish. English is not my first language. Constructive criticism is welcomed but don't be rude. Also my minimum update frequency will by 1 chapter in 5 days. I am writing for fun and hope you enjoy as well.

I don't own Naruto and never will.

"Emphsis"

characters thinking/a simple narration

AN IMPORTANT PART

"characters speaking"

Please note that the chapter names sometimes present a deeper meaning...

If you have any confusion, feel free to ask.

Without further ado, let's continue. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 15: A new but old precious person

A blink. A blink.

A blink again. A blink again and….

"pfffff….hahahahah…..oh welcome to our world brat! The unpredictability that you are known for now thrown at you! That too from an Uchiha bastard…Oh I can't believe it!" Kurama roars in laughter.

And Multiple times- (she ignores Kurama)

"Whaaa?" She was so stunned that she was not able to form a coherent sentence. One minute she was snapping at Orochimaru and the next Shisui-kun was asking her to be his friend with such an earnest expression that she would have instantly nodded her head if not for her battle weary teenage self. A friend he said.

Unbidden hundreds of images flashed in her mind. Ino and Sakura's screaming can still be heard by her... The crumbled forms of Kakashi-Sensei, Shikamaru and Gaara, their last words said with a bloody smile still ring in her ears. The smell of burnt flesh still makes her choke. The lifeless eyes of Neji and Kiba still haunt her. Sai's one last true genuine smile makes her want to gouge her eyes out because her friends just won't stop looking at her warmly as if all of the things happened was not her fault. (she knows it was her fault that they died, she was not strong enough, she is never strong enough) With a piercing heartache and a desperation; that is seldom seen, she collects her herself again, because that is the only thing she is good at. She inhales deeply and all the emotion vanish from her eyes leaving them cold and empty (like her heart, like her world)

"I am sorry Shisui-kun, I don't have time because I need to train with Sensei here. Ja ne" She cannot accept being his friend (not because there is no place left in her heart but because there is no heart left to give a place) So she eye-smiles like Kakashi-sensei to hide the emptiness within her eyes (because she now understands why he used to do that) from a child's view (from Sasuke's eyes because she doesn't want to make him sad). She sees his eyes widen and-

"But I will not waste your time and like I said before we can even train together. I am an academy student and I know you don't attend it because I have not seen you there and i have top scores in Taijutsu and I am sure I will be able to help you train. Believe it!" Shisui rambles because he really wants Hina-chan to become his friend. He thinks she is super cool to stand up against Orochimaru-sama and nag him. (he also wants to make that emptiness vanish from her eyes because he knows that she is like him, all alone and suffering; maybe even more than him because at least he has Mikoto-obasan and Fugaku-ojisan and little Ita-chan to look after him)

Hearing her catchphrase uttered by someone else felt like a hard slap to her cheek. A reminder of what she had once been. Of how hope or optimism or mere words were not enough to end the cycle of hatred, of how it led to the complete annihilation of her world-

And it's starting to get difficult to breathe again, because she cannot let this child suffer (cannot let Sasuke's eyes shed tears of blood again)-

"You…" She takes a step closer and directly looks into his eyes. He startles because this is the first time he felt as if she was truly seeing him for him. She found that she was wrong, his eyes though curious also holds a large amount of pain and loneliness (the war is horrible, it affects everyone; be it directly or indirectly). Her breath hitches as an image of Child Naruto (the one she used to look at daily in the mirror) superimposes with him hiding a crushing loneliness behind a facade of smiles and mischief.

So she smiles, a smile filled with warmth and affection, (a smile that Child Sasuke was robbed off) and let goes a little of her chakra so that he can sense her sincerity (and said those words that the Child Naruto always wanted to hear). "You Shisui-kun are doing great. Congratulations on scoring the top marks in Taijutsu. You will go far and become stronger than you thought you will ever become. Just keep hanging on and never give up!" She said with conviction and shuffles his hair, because she will not let Sasuke's family die this time around. (Unbeknownst to her Kurama suddenly becomes alert because he realizes that there is something wrong with Naruto's left eye, although he does not have enough chakra to investigate, he still sends healing chakra to her eyes)

Thump-thump-thump-

The words that Shisui never thought he will be hearing from anyone other than his parents who are deadeadeadead because it is expected of an Uchiha to score the highest marks, made his eyes widen. The beautiful beautiful smile that was directed at him made his heart race because he thought Hina-chan was a goddess that is not from this world. The chakra exuding the same warmth and affection as her eyes made him feel content for the first time since his parent's death. He felt a lump in his throat-

"Thank you-" Shisui started to say-

"Naruto-" "Uzum- nami" Kurama and Orochimaru warned simultaneously while Orochimaru covered his slip up (wasn't he supposed to be a genius? Is he doing that deliberately?)

She nodded and reeled her chakra in. She wiped off her smile and closed her eyes. She saw Shisui falter in what he was about to say and sent another reassuring smile his way although she knew it must have felt hollow compared to the one before but she had to stop him because she had sensed three people approaching their location.

"Shisui" a male voice called as if in greeting.

Shisui was in a in a bit of daze. He was not able to focus on anything other than Hina-chan so naturally he didn't hear the voice calling his name. He felt disappointed when she was not facing him anymore but looking closer he thought that there must be a reason for it. So he looks in the same direction Hina-chan is looking and he felt his eyes widen when he takes in the appearance of the new people-

"Fugaku Ojisan!" Shisui exclaims and starts jumping up and down happy to meet his beloved uncle anytime. He realizes his mistake a second too late when Fugaku keeps staring at him instead of giving his usual half smile. Ahhh I am so stupid! We are obviously in company of "outsiders" as uncle always say and I have to follow the protocol to greet the clan head. He does not notice Naruto getting as stiff as a rock.

"Fugaku-sama" he bows deeply at his waist and clears his throat to hide the embarrassment he felt.

"Rise" Shisui does as ordered and winces when he sees the stern sheen in his Uncle's eyes although there is amusement hidden beneath the many layers but he has always been good at discerning emotions from people's eyes. An Uchiha's eyes are actual windows to their emotions if one knows how to look. Phew, this means I will not be scolded much.

"Orochimaru-dono" Fugaku greets with a small dip of his head.

"Fugaku-dono" Orochimaru greets back with the same dip of his head.

"May I enquire as to what brought you here?" Fugaku asked ignoring the odd little blond kid next to his nephew for now. Because he had noticed she had gone absolutely still as soon as he came into view. He thinks she might be surprised to see the Uchiha clan head and Shisui calling him Uncle because she did not know Shisui was his nephew and Shisui is not the one to brag about his relations to the head family.

"Oh we were just here to look at the talking cats that my little apprentice wished to see" Orochimaru comments and puts his hand on Naruto's head as a warning signal to snap out of it.

A memory long forgotten, buried deep somewhere in the recesses of her mind pops at the fore front of her eyes as she observes the man who, in her childhood albeit treated her harshly but never unkindly when she was arrested by the Konoha Military Police force (KMPF) for her pranks. This man standing in front of her was the sole purpose that Naruto allowed the Police to arrest her, because this man was one of the very few people who didn't look at Naruto with coldcoldcold- eyes, because this man was the sole person who used to give her snacks when her stomach growled in the police station, because this man one day suddenly stopped approaching her and she had to increase the magnitude of her pranks to meet him and was told to never get caught again and just like that…she never met him again. And everything clicked into place. The Uchiha clan head, the coup, the Jinchuriki….He was protecting her from his fellow clansmen because they would have wanted to control the Kyuubi Jinchuriki to help them in their coup against the village. And now she wants to rage and roar and grieve all over again at the unfairness of the world, at the people who took what little light she had in her childhood, ….she wants to console the child in her that she was not a monster, that it was not her fault that the KMPF became a ghost town, that it was not her fault that she couldn't find anyone with that red and white sign on their shirts anymore except Sasu- And she can't breathe anymore because the similar smell, the similar chakra, the similar features and there is Sasuke staring at her. His father, the rational part of her mind whispers or maybe it's Kurama she does not know. There is a yawning chasm of grief within her that only seems to get bigger and wider as she continues to look at the man as if frozen by time itself. A hand on her head-

"Narutoooooooooo-" Kurama's urgent call-

are a reminder that she needs to breathe and-

she bows deeply almost parallel to the floor because this man deserves it-

As the Sixth Hokage I Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto "Thank you for your loyalty and services to the village hidden in the leaves. May you live long and your will of fire keeps burning brightly" She states almost breathlessly and hears some gasps. She did not realize that she had let go a little of her chakra to convey her gratitude. It is after a few seconds that she feels a hand on her shoulder; she straightens and looks directly at the man that is her deadeadead- brother's family. The people do not realize that she is the one with the warm chakra that they had felt not too long ago in the village, because with Kurama back in the seal and consciously supplying his chakra, her signature got tweaked just the slightest bit and it made all the difference.

Shisui thinks he has never seen his Uncle so shocked in the entire 5 years of his life. He believe that this will be a common occurrence for everyone that is around Hina-chan in the future because he has realized that she is that amazing to leave everyone speechless with just her smile and few words. A physical manifestation of hope and optimism, and love and warmth.

"It is our duty to serve the village child; you don't need to thank us for that but I appreciate it nonetheless. I don't think I have seen you in the village, what is your name?" Fugaku finally comes out of his stupor first and feels an old warmth stirring in his chest that he had forgotten because when was the last time anyone had thanked him for his services as a ninja, not out of obligation but genuinely? When was the last time a child had sent such a warm and knowing smile his way (Itachi does not count, he is just a toddler, he does not know war), a child who has too old eyes for such a young face, a child who has seen war, known war, participated in it and came out victorious but broken maybe even shattered but he does not want to admit that because it is easy for an Uchiha to discern emotions through eyes. Her eyes say it all he thinks, because that is no child in front of him. She is trained and a fighter he believes, and his eyes subtly shift to Orochimaru for a once over because he had caller her 'his apprentice.'

"My name is Uzunami Hina and I am new to this village. It's a pleasure to meetcha" she chirps with a blinding smile and eyes filled with so much grief and gratitude that he does not know what he had done to deserve it but is nonetheless filled with a renewed desire of wanting to protect this child and the future generation of his village, so he nods and accepts her answer gracefully befitting of an Uchiha clan head.

TBC

Well did you expect this encounter? Answer me in the comment section.

Signing out

Yuki Race